'Twins, Tractors and Tradition'

Brothers' tractor drive to the Pacific is a memorial to grandfathers.

Brothers' tractor drive to the Pacific is a memorial to grandfathers.

October 22, 2006|JAMES RUFUS KOREN Daily Telegram (Adrian)

OTTAWA LAKE, Mich. -- Twin brothers Mike and Pat Iott have a plan to raise money for heart-disease research. It's nostalgic and sweet and quintessentially American. And it's nothing if not ambitious. In April, the brothers Iott plan to climb aboard a couple of half-century-old tractors and drive from Ottawa Lake to San Francisco. The tractors belonged to their grandfathers, both of whom died of heart attacks. "My granddads were great men," said Pat Iott, who lives in Brooklyn, Mich. "We want to do something to honor them and to fight the disease that killed them." Driving a 1954 Oliver Super 88 and a 1956 John Deere Model 60, the Iotts plan to head west on U.S. 6 and other two-lane roads. If all goes according to plan, they'll go through the Chicago suburbs, Des Moines, Denver and into California near Yosemite National Park. "Wherever we hit water with our front tires, that's where we'll stop," Pat Iott said. Once they reach San Francisco, their father will pick them up and load the tractors onto a trailer for the drive back to Michigan. All told, and barring any major breakdowns, the Iotts expect the 2,500-mile trek will take 15 or 16 days to complete, driving 15 hours each day. "Basically, we can only go as fast as the slower tractor," Pat said. "The John Deere will do about 16 (miles per hour), and the Oliver can go about 14." The brothers are also bringing along a trailer with sleeping quarters and tools for roadside repairs. Over the summer, the Iotts started passing out fliers and appearing at local fairs and festivals. They still have six months before they set out, but say they'd like to raise $1 million for the American Heart Association. They've raised about $3,000 so far, Pat Iott said. The brothers call their fundraiser "Twins, Tractors and Tradition" -- tradition referring both to their families' agricultural backgrounds and their histories of heart disease. Robert "Babe" Iott, their paternal grandfather, died of a heart attack on Thanksgiving Day in 1987. Mike and Pat were 18. Melvin Bischoff, their maternal grandfather, died during a blizzard in 1976. He died in the kitchen of his farmhouse in Ottawa Lake, where Mike and his wife Debbie now live. "He told our grandma Dorothy, 'I'm going to see the grandkids,' and started plowing the road into Ottawa Lake," Mike said. Bischoff collapsed while trying to dig his tractor out of a snow drift, went inside the house and told his wife he didn't feel well. "He died right there in that kitchen," Mike said. He and his brother were 9 years old. "History is passed on through family, and, unfortunately, so is heart disease," Pat said. Long before they had the idea to drive 2,500 miles on them, the Iott brothers wanted to restore their grandfathers' tractors. Babe Iott's 1954 Oliver never left the family, but they had to track down Melvin Bischoff's 1956 John Deere. "I started asking around about the Deere over 10 years ago," Mike said. "That's when we redid my grandpa Iott's old Oliver. Pat and I spent the winter redoing that and getting that running." After their grandmother, Dorothy Bischoff, died, the brothers found a record of the estate sale she held after her husband died. She sold the tractor to a farmer in Berkey, Ohio. He sold it to someone else, who sold it to a nephew in Perrysburg, Ohio. "I called this nephew, and he still had it, and he said he would sell it," Mike Iott said. "When I saw it, I didn't think there was any way this could be the same tractor -- it was in pieces. I kind of got a tear in my eye when I saw it." It took the brothers close to a year to put the Deere back into working order. Once it was running, the brothers decided they needed to do something with the two tractors -- something for their original owners. The idea to drive across the country popped into Mike's head as he and his family were driving to Brooklyn to see Pat and his family. "When the idea first came to him, I didn't know whether to take it seriously or not," Debbie Iott, Mike's wife, said. "Some things come to pass, and some don't, but once I realized he was serious, I supported it. I mean, what else can you do?"